232 HUMMINGBIRDS 



GENUS AERONAUTES. 



425. Aeronautes melanoleucus (Baird). WHITE-THROATED 



SWIFT. 



Tail about one half as long as wing-, forked, with stiffish and narrowed 

 but not spiny feathers ; tarsus and part of 

 toes feathered ; hind toe directed either 



__ forward or to the side, but not backward. 



PI 298 Upper parts blackish ; throat and breast 



and patches on wing and sides of rump white; 

 sides blackish ; tail without bristles. Length : 6.50-7.00, wing 5.30-5.90, 

 tail 2.50-2.70. 



Remarks. The white markings distinguish this swift from vauxii, 

 whether seen from above or below. 



Distribution. Western United States from the Pacific coast east to the 

 region of the Black Hills, western Nebraska ; and from Montana south to 

 Lower California and Guatemala. 



Nest. On cliffs or in caves, glued to the rocks, made of vegetable 

 matter and stiff feathers, lined with bark fiber and a few feathers. Eggs : 

 4 or 5, white. 



Food. Aerial insects. 



There is one bird that needs no protective legislation for itself or 

 nest. The home of the white- throated swifts is in the air around lofty 

 peaks and cliffs, where they circle and wheel and dart on curved, 

 cutting wings with arrow-like speed. As you stand on the crest of 

 a ridge where they pass, there is a flash of black and white and a 

 bullet-like whizz as one after another goes by, and you wonder that 

 any living thing can move with such speed. I have seen collectors 

 who were good wing shots fire till their gun barrels were hot and 

 turn away with empty belts and only a single specimen of the swifts. 

 As the birds seldom come to low altitudes it is not strange that they 

 should be rare in collections. Their nests, placed in crevices or 

 caves half way up inaccessible cliffs, have rarely been taken. 



VERNON BAILEY. 



FAMILY TROCHILID-5I : HUMMINGBIRDS. 



KEY TO GENERA. 



1. Exposed culmen half as long as wing or longer. 



Calothorax, p. 242. 

 V. Exposed culmen less than half as long as wing. 



Fig. 299. 



2. Exposed culmen not more than .50 ; outer tail feathers 



black-barred and white-tipped in both sexes . . Atthis, p. 241. 

 2'. Exposed culmen more than .50 ; outer tail feathers not black-barred 



and white-tipped in both sexes. 

 3. Nostrils nearly or wholly naked. 



4. Tail blue black in both sexes, upper parts metallic grass green. 



lache, p. 244. 



4'. Tail not blue black. 



